COWABUNGA, DUDE: President Barack Obama is in the Bay Area tonight for back-to-back fundraisers — and he can also expect to get an earful of Democratic donors’ thoughts on the Keystone XL pipeline, clean energy investment and other energy issues.

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THE INSIDE MAN: The first stop is an event for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, hosted at the San Francisco home of billionaire — and Keystone XL opponent — Tom Steyer and his wife Kat Taylor. Steyer’s role as host will give him plenty of personal access to Obama to discuss the pipeline, which he has lobbied hard against — including his recent, controversial foray into Massachusetts politics to oppose the pro-Keystone Democrat Stephen Lynch in that state’s Senate race. Given the event’s location, watch for attendees to include members of the clean tech community and wealthy climate activists, a Steyer spokesman told ME. Steyer’s event is a $5,000-a-head cocktail party.

THE EXTERNAL PRESSURE: Afterward Obama heads to the nearby mansion of Gordon Getty for a $32,500-a-plate dinner fundraiser benefiting the Democratic National Committee. Getty sold his family’s oil business to Texaco in the mid-‘80s for $10 billion. The real action here is going to be outside, however, where anti-Keystone protestors, gathered by 350.org, Sierra Club, CREDO and others, intend to rally. Organizers say they expect turnout of at least 1,000 for the protest, part of a string of action intended to elevate the Keystone XL issue while the State Department and White House are still considering its application.

THE FOLLOW-UP: Obama’s fundraising swing isn’t done today. Tomorrow, he’ll be at an event for the DNC at the Atherton, Calif., home of Mark Heising, founder of Medley Partners Management and a member of the Environmental Defense Fund's board of trustees. Heising also sits on the boards of lithium-sulfur battery maker Sion Power Corporation, solar thin film startup Solexant and C-Quest Capital, which backs projects lowering carbon footprints.

Obama will attend a second event tomorrow hosted by Marcia and John Goldman. John Goldman headed up his family philanthropy, the Richard and Rhoda Goldman Fund, before it shut down in 2012 and split between Goldman and his siblings after the organization’s namesakes, Goldman’s parents, passed away; the organization gave out money to various environmental projects. John is also vice president of the Goldman Environmental Foundation, a separate organization that hands out the Goldman Environmental Prize, each year giving $150,000 awards to six grassroots activists across the globe.

But wait, there’s more: Anti-pipeline activists aren’t letting another opportunity to protest pass them by; Activists plan to show up tomorrow morning at the corner of Alameda de las Pulgas and Walsh Road in Atherton, near where Obama will be. Details: http://bit.ly/Z5o0Vh

BIG PICTURE — NATIONAL LABS IN SEQUESTER’S SPOTLIGHT: DOE’s sprawling network of national laboratories helped spawn the atomic bomb and survived the end of the Cold War — and the labs have withstood calls for the federal government to downsize or merge them. But now comes the sequester, which may force the department to do what lawmakers haven’t: downsize this piece of the government despite the parochial politics that have kept the labs going. Darius Dixon takes a smart look at the issue: http://politi.co/17c7oMh

2014 WATCH — CASSIDY TO CHALLENGE LANDRIEU: Rep. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) will announce today plans to challenge Democrat Mary Landrieu for her Senate seat next year. Landrieu, who sits on the Energy and Natural Resources Committee and often sides with Republicans on energy issues, has been viewed as a top target for a potential GOP pickup in red state Louisiana. Ginger Gibson has more on the match-up: http://politi.co/XojAIa

NRCC HITS RAHALL OVER COAL: Nick Rahall, the top Democrat on the Transportation and Infrastuructre Committee, is already getting tagged as a coal job destroyer and linked to President Obama in a new NRCC ad. “President Obama is strangling the coal industry and Nick Rahall is helping him do it,” the ad says, citing an “aye” vote on the House Progressive Caucus’s substitute budget. Rahall told Morning Transportation recently that he’s still undecided on whether to run to replace the retiring Jay Rockefeller. The ad: http://bit.ly/12d8zrb

SANFORD WINS GOP RUNOFF: Former Gov. Mark Sanford last night won the GOP runoff election for a vacant South Carolina congressional seat, the latest test of his bid to resuscitate his political career. Sanford will face Democrat Elizabeth Colbert Busch, a Clemson University administrator and the sister of comedian Stephen Colbert, in the May 7 general election. Alex Isenstadt has more: http://politi.co/10tXelj

SPINNER TO RUN CAMPAIGN OF HONDA CHALLENGER: Steve Spinner, the Obama campaign bundler and onetime DOE stimulus adviser who weighed in on the agency's loan guarantee program, has agreed to run the campaign of a Democrat challenging Rep. Mike Honda for his California seat. Spinner will run the campaign of Ro Khanna, who served as deputy assistant Commerce secretary from 2009 to 2011 and has since taught at Stanford and Santa Clara University. Spinner tells the Contra Costa time he wants "someone who lives and breathes the issues that we deal with in Silicon Valley" to represent it in Congress: http://bit.ly/YtOfCj

** A message from America's Natural Gas Alliance: When used to generate electricity, natural gas burns cleaner than other fuel sources, with less pollutants and no mercury. Learn more about this abundant, American resource: http://bit.ly/d652Uo **

FALLIN SHIPS INDUSTRY STUDY TO W.H.: Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin on Monday sent the White House Office of Management and Budget a report commissioned by a natural gas company detailing the costs of the Bureau of Land Management’s in-consideration fracking rule. The study, prepared by Oklahoma City University for natural gas producer Devon Energy, estimates complying with the rule could cost each well on public lands as much as $175,000, or $370 million annually. “Due to a lower risk adjusted rate of return, these higher additional costs combined with higher uncertainty should lead producers to re-allocate wells from Federal lands to non-Federal lands reducing royalty payments to states and employment in those states which possess a larger fraction of BLM lands,” the study concludes. “I encourage your review of this study and urge your reconsideration of the proposed rule,” Fallin wrote to acting OMB chief Jeff Zients: http://politico.pro/Z6Yng3

THE GOOD NEWS: The Mine Safety and Health Administration is making good headway in implementing recommendations stemming from the 2010 accident at the Upper Big Branch mine that killed 29 miners, the Labor Department’s inspector general says in a new report. Since an internal review making 100 recommendations was released last year, more than half have been implemented and MSHA is on track to implement most of the rest by year’s end, the report says. The report also notes some recommendations involve factors outside MSHA's control, including rulemaking and legal reviews. The IG report: http://1.usa.gov/12dwOW5

THE BAD NEWS: MSHA has updated its processes for reviewing and overseeing roof control plans for coal mines, which lay out an operation's plans in the event a roof or supporting structure shift and collapse, another new IG report says. The IG did find, however, that some districts still have incomplete operating procedures for roof control plans, district managers don't always document their decisions and enforcement personnel aren't using proper documentation. The report: http://1.usa.gov/XHUd3f

EPA COMMUNICATIONS LAWSUITS CONTINUE WITH IM COMPLAINT: The Competitive Enterprise Institute and the American Tradition Institute last Thursday filed a new lawsuit that continues the ongoing press to unearth EPA communications — both internal and with green groups. The groups want EPA to release transcripts from EPA’s internal instant message system, for accounts used by former Administrator Lisa Jackson, air chief Gina McCarthy, and former air policy and climate advisor Lisa Heinzerling. The lawsuit charges there are “organized and systemic abuses by senior federal employees to hide from the public their activities, particularly their electronic communications.” This is the latest in numerous large-scale Freedom of Information Act requests by CEI’s Chris Horner, the attorney behind suits over Jackson’s infamous “Richard Windsor” email account, Treasury Department communications regarding a carbon tax and other suits. The suit: http://bit.ly/14LPTmL

MOVER, SHAKER: The law firm Ballard Spahr has added energy regulatory Andrea Chambers to its Washington office. Chambers works with the electric, gas and alternative sectors, represents clients before FERC and advises private equity investors on energy assets, according to the firm.

** A message from America's Natural Gas Alliance: We believe in a clean energy future. Natural gas is a cleaner energy choice and a key partner to solar and wind technologies. From California to Florida, natural gas facilities are working with renewable energy to ensure steady, affordable and cleaner energy choices for communities across our nation. Because it is an abundant and affordable energy source available right here in America, natural gas can help make the promise of cleaner energy a reality in more American communities. Natural gas is smarter power today. Visit anga.us to learn more. **

** A message from Vet Voice Foundation: Tens of thousands of service members and veterans rely on public lands to hunt, fish, camp and heal from the wounds of war. These lands are part of the American heritage we fought for. As a new President and Congress look to rebuild America's infrastructure, we call on them to make an equal investment in maintaining our public lands and parks for our service members and all Americans. Support for our veterans must extend to investing in and protecting America’s natural heritage, for our children and grandchildren. www.VetVoiceFoundation.org **

Authors:

About The Author

Alex Guillén is an energy reporter for POLITICO Pro, where he covers EPA, regulations and coal, as well as lobbying and campaign finance in the energy realm. He previously wrote the Morning Energy newsletter. He graduated from the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Va., with a degree in anthropology and English. He is an avid reader and TV binger. The Delawarean, thrilled that there are finally Capriotti’s outposts in Washington, lives in Alexandria, Va.